Ten Minutes for Physics Number 12 Slowing of Clocks and Shortening of Matter with Motion Joseph M. Brown Basic Research Press Ten Minutes for Physics Number 12 Slowing of Clocks and Shortening of Matter with Motion ( 2001 Copyright owned by Joseph M. Brown ISBN: 0-9712944-4-5 Published by Basic Research Press 120 East Main Street Starkville, MS 39759 United States of America www.basicresearchpress.com Ten Minutes for Physics Number 12 Slowing of Clocks and Shortening of Matter with Motion For about a century physicists have talked about clocks running at a slower rate when they are moving and of matter shortening when it moves. To most laymen today these ideas sound far-fetched as they did to most physicists early in the twentieth century. They even seem far-fetched to many of the practical scientists (for example engineers) at the present time (2001). When we speak of clocks running slower we are talking about fundamental nuclear particles and the results observed of their behavior. In particular, some fundamental particles (such as the neutron) decay (i. e., disintegrate into other particles) with time. The time to decay of a moving neutron is greater than when the neutron is at rest. The decay time at velocity is related to the rest decay time by Where v is the particle velocity, and c is the speed of light. This phenomenon is called "time dilation". All matter shortens in the direction of motion when it translates. Letting be the length of a bar of steel, say, at rest then when it translates along its longitudinal axis its length decreases and the decreased length is given by where . The experiments to measure time dilation, as well as matter shortening, are difficult to make. However, the body of experimental data on time dilation and matter shortening is so extensive that there can be no doubt that both phenomena occur. The time dilation and matter shortening phenomena are quantified by the equations Far-fetched though the time dilation and matter shortening ideas may sound, once the structure of matter is understood it is quite clear, at least in qualitative terms, why clocks run slower and matter shortens with motion. In this theory of physics presented here all matter at rest consists of neutrinos which orbit in circular paths. When matter translates the orbits become spirals. Figure 1 shows a particle which is moving to the right at velocity v. The path of the orbiting neutrino is shown as viewed from a reference frame at rest, i. e. the frame fixed to the paper here. If we select a frame which is moving to the right at velocity v (with respect to the paper here) then the path of the neutrino may be elliptic, as shown in (Insert Figure 1) Figure 1. Spiral Path of Matter in Motion Figure 2. The major diameter is the same as when the matter particle was at rest, as indicated by the experimental evidence. The minor diameter, of course, is smaller. In order to understand time dilation let us consider a case where a matter particle is moving at a speed which is a major portion of the speed of light. The theory here is that the neutrino, which comprises the nuclear particle, always travels at the speed of light. When the (Insert Figure2) Figure 2. Neutrino Orbital Path as seen from a frame moving with the particle matter particle is at rest the path is circular and matter motion is achieved only by the neutrino changing its direction. Figure 3 is a conceptual sketch of the path of a neutrino when the matter particle is at rest. Figure 4 shows a trial path of the neutrino in the fast moving particle, which has advanced 30 units of length in one cycle. In Figure 3 the circumference of the circle is one cycle of motion of the (Insert Figure 3) (Insert Figure 4) Figure 4. Neutrino Path for a Particle which advanced 30 units of length in one cycle (first trial) neutrino and is 15.7 units of length long. The length of path for one cycle of the translating particle is approximately 44 units. Since the neutrino velocity is the same for both cases, the time for the moving path is 44/15.7= 2.8 larger than the rest path. We therefore have for this case. The estimate above is only approximate since we do not know the exact path. Of course we do know that the portion of the path with the neutrino moving to the right is much longer than the portion when the neutrino is moving to the left. We also know, from experiments, that the vertical envelope of the path is the same for the rest and moving particle; i. e., 2ro. The velocity v of translation of the matter particle can be determined from the assumed path. In one cycle the path extended 30 units of length while the path length (for one cycle) is 44 units (i. e., from point 1 to 2) which was at the velocity c. Thus, the path translation is 30/44 of the path length and the matter particle center moved at the velocity 30/44 the speed of light; i. e., or Let us compare the value 44/15.7, as obtained from the figure with the value inferred from experiments; i. e., Since the measured value of is so much shorter than the trial path of Figure 4 we conclude that the loop shown on the right is much larger than that of the actual path. Since we are specifying that the particle advance be 30 units and the measured time for the advance is 1.36 times as much as when the particle is at rest we have that the path length must be 1.36 (i. e., measured) times the rest path length of 15.7, or 1.36x15.7=21.4 which is impossible. The path length obviously must be larger than the advance of 30 units. Furthermore, we will soon show that must be much larger than 0.68 for the amount of advance for one cycle as shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows a second trial path for a particle with a rest path length of 15.7 units long and an advance of 30 units. The path length is approximately 37 squares. The particle velocity is 30/37 times the speed of light, (i.e.=30/37=0.81). The value of, (Insert Figure 5) Figure 5. Neutrino path for a particle which advanced 30 units of length for one cycle (second trial). which would be measured if the particle were moving at 0.81 times the speed of light, would be But, the time ratio for the second trial path (i. e., Figure 5) is the moving particle length divided by the length at rest (in one cycle) which is 37/15.7=2.33. These values 2.33 and 1.71 (2.33/1.71=1.38) are much closer than the first trial path values of 2.80 and 1.36(2.80/1.36=2.06). We thus know that the path loop must be even tighter than shown in Figure 5. In constructing these trial paths the vertical envelope must remain as 5 units of length and the path length to advance length must conform to the measured values deduced from the time ratio . Incidentally, the absolute minimum of would occur if a two segment straight path were taken as shown in Figure 6. In this very limiting case the value ofwould be sloping path length divided by 30, or . In this case would be 30/31.62=0.948 and the measured time ratio would be (Insert Figure 6) Figure 6. Absolute minimum path length for a rest particle with a path radius of 2.5 units when advancing 30 units in a cycle (third trial). The ratio of from the trail path to the measured (i. e.,) is 2.01/3.14=0.64. Let us show the time ratios for four trial paths (the fourth trial is presented later). (a) (b) (c) (d) (a)/(c) From Figure From Figure ___ Trial 1 44/15.7=2.80 30/44=0.68 1.36 2.06 Trial 2 37/15.7=2.33 30/37=0.81 1.71 1.38 Trial 3 31.6/15.7=2.01 30/31.6=0.95 3.20 0.63 Trial 4 33.9/15.7=2.15 30/33.9=0.88 2.15 1.00 This table shows that at high velocity a very tight path is required-possibly half the loop length shown in Figure 5. Let us try one more path for the particle, which advances 30 units of length in one cycle. The trial path (trial 4) is shown in Figure 7. In this case (trial 4) the path length is approximately 33 units and (Insert Figure7) Figure 7. Neutrino path for a particle which advanced 30 units of length use one cycle (trial 4, close to actual path) . From the figure and . We thus see that this trial gave the same time ratio from the measured path {i. e., column (a)} as the experimentally produced time ratio {column (d)}. In this case of a 30-unit distance advance all that the above results show is that the mechanism of motion suggested by this theory of physics is kinematically possible. It seems plausible that the dynamics (forces, accelerations, velocities, and displacements) are consistent with this theory. Let us now consider matter shortening as a result of motion. Consider the case shown in Figure 7. The longitudinal length of matter at this velocity is shortened by the amount where is the rest length. The rest length for the matter particle (i. e., the nuclear particle) is 5 units of length; see Figure 3. Thus this nuclear particle length, when moving at is 5 x 0.42=2.10 units of length. The loop shown at point 2 in Figure 7 has a longitudinal extent of 1/2 unit of length. From the presumed kinematics of the path it would appear that 5/2.1=2.4 nuclear particles could fit into the space occupied by the particle at rest (i. e., a length of 5 units). A dynamic analysis is required to resolve this question of matter shortening-which has not been done. In summary, time dilation and matter shortening almost certainly result from this kinetic particle theory of physics. A very plausible argument has been given to expect that quantitative agreement with the experimental results would be obtained if a rigorous analysis were completed. Quantitative agreement with experiments on matter shortening might result if a rigorous analysis was performed. The minor diameter is shortened by the factor , where v is the matter particle velocity and c is the speed of light. Thus we have It also takes longer for the neutrino to make a complete cycle-the path is longer, see Figure 1, when the matter particle is moving. The time for a cycle when moving is related to the time at rest, by the equation This time increase, which is frequently referred to as time dilation, is manifested in the increased time for particles to disintegrate. Disintegration of matter particles, such as neutrons, is believed to be caused by a force produced by the rocket-like output of particles. This output is confined to a small area. The neutron, unlike the one neutrino proton consists of two orbiting neutrinos. When a neutron is isolated the rocket-like spray of background particles is equally likely to occur anywhere. Now, as the particle moves it takes longer for the target neutrino to go through an orbit and therefore its average elapsed time to get impacted increases by the factor . The three phenomena of mass growth with velocity, shortening of matter with motion, and time dilation with motion spawned the so-called Einstein Theory of Relativity. The Einstien theory is an entirely different way to view these phenomena than that presented in the kinetic particle theory of physics. 1 10